APB honors the late Chadwick Boseman with screening of the enjoyable, if forgettable, ‘21 Bridges’

While the world is trying to process the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, the influential actor who passed away after a four-year battle with colon cancer, the actor was honored Friday night here at SU. The Activities Program Board (APB) screened one of Boseman’s last films, “21 Bridges” for students to enjoy on the Academic quad.

“21 Bridges” sees Boseman as the stern, New York City homicide detective, Andre Davis who attempts to capture two cop killers (Stephan James and Taylor Kitsch) by shuting down all twenty-one bridges in and out of Manhattan to capture them.

“21 Bridges” is one of those instances where a film’s lead actor can determine the enjoyment of the entire rest of the film. In this case, if it were any other actor playing this lead character, this film wouldn’t have too much to offer. But with the charismatic Boseman at the helm, the film is elevated greatly. Boseman is a naturally charming actor and makes the generic cop movie dialogue far more engaging and carries this standard action thriller into a fairly enjoyable ride.

The film’s biggest flaw is that nothing about the film stands out from the recent string of cop and crime conspiracy films. The story doesn’t take any risks and plays out exactly how you think a story like this would.

The directing is slick during some key action scenes, thankfully not shaky or overly produced. However, the rest of the directing is flat, not doing anything creative or stylistic in its presentation.

Overall, “21 Bridges” is carried from the main character. Boseman shines through a run-of-the-mill script, with enough charm and dramatic weight to elevate this movie slightly above the rest of its competition. The action scenes are entertaining, mainly due to their more realistic nature. These elements aside however cannot cover up that the movie simply does nothing new with the material it’s given and doesn’t challenge the genre or its audience.

The movie is enjoyable, by no means will you regret sitting down for its brisk 99-minute runtime, but you most likely will not be thinking too much about it once you are done viewing it.